Leopold II: The Congolese Killer
Leopold
II, the most cruel leader of the Gilded Age, implemented a forced-labor system
in Congo that was quickly copied by other European colonial powers until today.
An
estimated 15 million Africans died as a result of Leopold II brutal governance
under the name of "Humanitarian Project".
The
attempts of converting Congolese nation into "civilized Christians"
resulted in a genocide of 50% of Congo's children, women and men.
The
Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth in the Northern and Western
United States.
On the
other hand, Congo had three of the most expensive resources of that time;
Rubber, gold and ivory. But very soon, these resources became Leopold II private
property since 1885.
For the
next 23 years all natives were forced to dig up gold, kill elephants for ivory,
and harvest rubber.
Forced
labor and extreme mental and physical torture was done against their will
within their own country with treat of destitution, detention, violence
including death, compulsion and other forms of extreme hardship.
Anyone who got in his
way was done away with execution or imprisonment.
His massacres were
beyond his sadist and greed behavior, such as this man named Nsala staring at
the chopped off limbs of his 5-year old daughter because he failed to get
enough rubber on that day.
The democratic republic
of Congo has called for compensation over the ills of colonization and
reparations for harm done during decades of colonial rule in East African
nations.
However, the only form
of compensation received is Belgian King Philippe "deepest regrets" over his nation’s
colonial past in the Congo.
The
European nation may seemed to be confronting its brutal past as lawmakers had
agreed to set up a panel to look at Belgium’s colonial history in Congo, Rwanda
and Burundi but this has remained undone since August 2020....
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